I have a saying that “you are never more than a few seconds a way from a bonehead maneuver.” This grew out of my RV days when towing a trailer with a big truck and not being acutely aware of everything could easily result in lots of damage. So I pulled a “bonehead” today but luckily with no harm done. Basically after my walk, went home to regroup and threw all my clothes in the washer. After a quick shower it suddenly occurred to me that my passport was in the cargo pocket of the pants…..Panic mode! After a certain amount of trouble shooting; you could literally be dying and you will not get a Bosch front loader to open before it is ready to. Luckily the AirBNB owner suggested switching to the spin cycle and I was on pins and needles for 15 minutes while it finished up. Now the good news: I keep my passport in an RFID sleeve and in a ziplock bag. So, passport survived just fine, RFID sleeve had a little moisture but was not thoroughly wet. I did check that the NFC biometric chip in the passport is still working and it is. (FYI to do this on your passport, download the READID ME app on your phone and it will walk you through it.) So dodged the bullet on this one, but this is why I prefer not to carry my passport around with me. (France requires you to have National ID, but actually does not say it has to be a passport!).

On to the day, which was excellent: Started with coffee and GF Avocado toast at Simone Coffee Club, a great place that I knew of from previous visits. Then a little walking around town before taking the bus over to Pasaia, near where I left off yesterday. There is a cute little ferry that runs back and forth continually, so I took it over to the far side for an exploration before heading back. Although today was much shorter distance wise, my app shows almost the same amount of vertical. So, walked along the ocean towards the lighthouse and then many many stairs, Rather nice road for awhile and then on fairly well traveled trails. All in all I think I was walking for a solid 3 hours. Came down in the Gros district and ended up with a very reasonable Prix Fixe lunch at Nam, Mushroom risotto and a burger and flan and half bottle of red for 23 Euros! Step count: 21,500 and 60 floors climbed.

Funny how mistranslations can have big impacts. The owners manual at my Airbnb said something about Stores, which didn’t make sense to me so I passed it by. The only window in the place that didn’t seem to have a shade was next to the bed. Bright lights on and off all night combined with jet lag made for a very poor nights sleep. Imagine my surprise when I clicked a normal looking light switch this morning and electric blinds deployed on that window! Should sleep better tonight! Left a post it in the manual for future guests….

So, the plan was to spend a few days in San Sebastián using it as a home base while hiking the first two legs into San Sebastián and then continuing on to Bilbao. Woke up early this morning and took the bus to the town of Irun, which is the first town across to border from France. After a coffee, found the trail and immediate steep hike up the sanctuario de Guadalupe. From there the trail option that I took, called Purgatorio, followed the top of the ridge over a few steep mountains etc. Felt like a very solid first day and I was glad to have my base in San Sebastián to return for a hot shower!

Took the train down to Spain today: Basically, 4.5 hours from Montparnasse to Hendaye, then walk over to the Euskotren that serves the Basque coast and another half hour on the local train. The airBnb that I have is a nice studio on Pl. de La Constitucion in the center of old town San Sebastián. So, since I hadn’t really eaten anything since breakfast, it was off on a tapas crawl. Great food, reasonably priced and small portions…

Back on the evening Delta flight to Paris. Slight delay but otherwise smooth flight. Departure time of 6:00pm gives you the day to get sorted and the arrival time around 1:00pm in Paris means that you miss the rush at passport control and the rush hour traffic going into the city in the morning. I had an unused airport RER ticket so took the train into the city and just by luck ended up on an express, so it was very quick. Walked from St. Michel station to the hotel in St. Germain. After a shower and regroup, it was off to the Storage area to pick up my hiking poles. Then a dinner with John R. And Léopoldine and managed to stay awake till 10:00pm, good for a first night! Off to San Sebastián via train tomorrow.

Inspite of it being a rainy day, I ended up with a pretty full day. Started by trying coffee at the Noir location on Ile St. Louis, then headed to the Tour St. Jacques, another of those things that I have been trying to do for multiple trips, not open Monday and Tuesday, open 10:00am to 6:00pm on other days, but wait, closed for lunch for two hours, something not mentioned. Anyway, this time I succeeded and it was a fairly good tour with a 300 step climb to the top of the tower. Luckily the rain abated so that I could enjoy the views and get some decent photos. Afterwards it turned out that the Rotisserie d’Argent the cafe associated with the famed Tour d’Argent, and much less expensive, had a spot for lunch available. A proper French lunch ensued with Frog legs, followed by Duck confit and then a cheese plate. It poured rain while I was eating so was happy to be inside. Following that I walked over to the Conciergerie, a spectacular castle like building that used to house prisoners including Marie Antoinette. Mostly empty inside and some kind of annoying tablet to be used as a guide. I made short work of it. Alas tonight is the final night that Quentin is running the nearby Le Bucheron cafe. A bit of a party was happening and I brought along a bottle of Delas Croze Hermitage. Some singing and hijinks among the locals and they looked dug in for a long night. I headed back as I need to finish packing, clean up the apartment a bit and then head to CDG tomorrow for the flight back to Seattle.

A rainy day in Paris today. Headed over to NoGlu for a GF croissant. Then off to Montmartre to go to the museum of Montmartre. Lots on the history of the area but mainly focused on some of the artists. From there, a quick tour around Pl. du Tertre and past Sacre Couer before heading down the hill to meet Lily Heise a Canadian Travel writer/podcaster and tour guide for lunch. Her site is “Je T’aime, me neither.” She was doing some tours for Oliver even though it was raining. After that it was back to the apartment for awhile and then a stroll over to Ile St. Louis and around.

Started today finding a coffee shop in the Marais called Noir that I have been meaning to try. Excellent coffee but as usual no terrace. Inverse relationship between good coffee and good terraces! First idea was to check out the Pompidou center, closed till 11:00am so off to Luxembourg gardens, after that back to Pompidou, way too crowded. Walked around and ended up having lunch at a nice cafe next to Pied de Cochon called Poppy. Went next door to try and get into the Pinault museum, but even with a membership, the security line was way too long. From there, off to try the Arc de Triomphe yet again. Last trip, I was sold a ticket at 9:00am for a 10:30am entry only to find that they were on strike and had been for a month. Don’t think I ever got a refund in spite of a number of comical emails wherein I suggested that I use the ticket at another time and they said that is was only valid for the issued time and I pointed out that they had sold me a ticket when they knew they were closed etc…. This would be fraud in the USA but normal in France. Nice walk down the Champs Elysees and a stop at Gentlemen 1919. Then dinner with Darren, Sharon, John and Léopoldine at Pierre Sang. This is a Prix Fixe that really exceeds expectations. Many courses and much great converstations…. A Chateau Neuf and a Pomerol….Sorry no pictures of dinner!

Started with the traditional Sunday morning trip to the Bastille open market. This is one of the biggest markets in Paris and happens every Sunday. Normally go to the Breton booth for a galette, but wasn’t feeling like Sausage and mustard and cheese at 9:30am so ended up with some Vietnamese spring rolls instead. Met up with John R. And did the rounds of his favorite merchants while he stocked up. Then a metro ride to the Rodin Museum and spent some time in the gardens there. (Insider tip: join the museum and you can go anytime you want with no reservation, renewal was 27 Euros for the year!) From there a quick snack of escargots at the La Terrace du 7eme before heading to Printemps. This is a big department store and the cheese Monger in my neighborhood said that they had a restaurant there where I could taste more cheeses. This ended up being magic, as the restaurant was on the 8th floor with an outdoor terrace all around and I had a spectacular view. Had a Smash burger no bun and the a three cheese selection. Not sure how I had never heard of this, but really great view, good food and fair prices… A definite find. Walk through Rue de Montorgueil on the way back and a quick shelter to hide from a passing rain storm. Took some down time, laundry etc. and passing on dinner after the big lunch.

Started today by heading up to the 3rd where I had seen a lot of tents being set up last night. Found a new high end coffee place called Kawa, that had very San Francisco tasting espresso. Turned out a huge Brocante, or garage sale type thing was going on, and it was quite massive. Walked around and ended up connecting with John R., neighbor from NH who lives in Paris. There were shopping the brocante. After lunch at the Marche des Enfants rouge headed back and then to planned meet up at Le Baron Rouge. No one turned up for that some headed back and the over to the 6th for dinner with friend Christian. Lovely snack of cheeses that I brought and then rabbit pate and salad, after which we headed out to the LVMH owned Cravan cocktail bar. One French 75 and that was it for the evening! 18,300 steps!

The plan today was to take the metro out to St. Ouen and go to the Fabrique du Metro museum which is all about how the metro was built, history etc. Oddly enough, there is not Metro stop near this place, so after getting as far as I could, it was another 15minute walk to the museum. On arrival they told me I couldn’t possibly be admitted without a reservation, although it was clear that no one was there. So, hopped on the sight and tried to make a reservation only to find that the next opening is in January of 2025 and that they only do tours one day a week. Very French! Kind of reminds me of last trip where I bought an Arc De Triomphe ticket at 9:00am for a 10:30am visit, got there only to find they were on strike and had been for quite awhile. In the USA, this would be fraud, in France it is normal. Anyway, I exacted a certain small satisfaction from giving them a horrible google review, which I know they saw since they responded to it. Hopefully others will see it and it will save them wasting a morning schlepping out there. Hopped back on the bus and walked around the flea markets of St. Ouen, which are famous but not much open on Friday. They seem to do their thing on Saturday and Sunday with endless amounts of brick and brac and junk for sale. A decent Poulet Fermier at Paul Bert and then a long bus ride back into town. In an interesting inovation, the IDF Mobilites IPhone app now allows you to use your phone or watch for tickets. I jumped through the hoops and bought one ticket on my watch to try it out, and it does in fact work. This will be a major game changer for visitors who will no longer have to buy transit cards.